NextGen Knowledge Center

Delete Encounters

Sometime, it becomes necessary to delete an encounter, for example, the wrong patient’s appointment was checked-in and an encounter was created in error.

Activity that may have already occurred on the encounter may include the following:

  • The encounter was created from the Appointment Book using the Checkin/Create Encounter process.
  • The status of the appointment changed from Expected to Kept when the encounter was created.
  • The encounter was automatically linked to the appointment.
  • Payers were attached to the encounter.
  • Charges were entered on the encounter.
  • Diagnosis codes from the charges were copied to the Patient Chart, Encounters tab.
  • Transactions were entered on the encounter.
  • The encounter was billed and a claim was created.

To reverse the check-in of an appointment and delete the associated encounter, the activity that has already taken place on the encounter must be removed. This is typically done in the reverse order of how the activity occurred.

To delete an encounter, you must do the following:
  • Remove claims from the encounter.
  • Remove unposted transactions from the encounter.
  • Remove charges from the encounter.
  • Remove encounter-level diagnoses from the encounter.
  • Remove payers from the encounter.
  • Remove the encounter from the appointment.
  • Reset the appointment status from Kept to Expected.
  • Delete the encounter.
  • Remove Claims from an Encounter to be Deleted You can delete encounters that have been already created. To delete such encounters, you must remove the claims associated with them.
  • Remove Unposted Transactions from an Encounter to be Deleted You can delete encounters that have already been created. To delete such encounters, the transactions that have been entered on those encounters that have not yet been posted must be deleted. Encounters with posted transactions cannot be deleted.
  • Remove Charges from an Encounter to be Deleted You can delete encounters that have already been created. You must delete the charges entered on an encounter that have not yet been processed before you can delete the encounter. Encounters with processed charges, or with charges with posted transactions, cannot be deleted.
  • Remove Encounter Diagnoses from an Encounter to be Deleted You can delete encounters that have already been created. You must delete encounter-level diagnosis codes before you can delete an encounter. You cannot delete diagnosis codes associated to charges until after the charges have been deleted.
  • Remove Payers from an Encounter to be Deleted You can delete encounters that have already been created. You must delete the payers linked to an encounter before you can delete an encounter. You cannot delete payers associated to charges until after the charges have been deleted or moved to another payer.
  • Remove Encounter to be Deleted from an Appointment You can delete encounters that have already been created. You must clear all appointments that are linked to an encounter before you can can delete it.
  • Reset Appointment Status from Kept to Expected When you remove an encounter from the appointment it was linked to, you can reset the appointment status from Kept to Expected.
  • Delete an Encounter You can delete an encounter after all claims, transactions, charges, encounter-level diagnosis codes, insurances, and appointment associated with that encounter have been removed.